


here come the vultures

by staubfingers



Category: Ready or Not (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, a lot of drinking, some terrible flirting, they met before the wedding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-19 02:54:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22404094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/staubfingers/pseuds/staubfingers
Summary: Grace meets a stranger in a bar.  When she sees him again on her wedding day everything changes.
Relationships: Daniel Le Domas/Grace Le Domas
Comments: 19
Kudos: 137





	here come the vultures

**Author's Note:**

> So I found my love for writing fanfics again and I'm still obsessed with the film, or at least with the characters. It's somehow AU, but a lot of plot points stay the same. Basically I don't like Alex, so I rewrote parts of the film without him and added a story of Grace and Daniel meeting under different circumstances.  
> English is unfortunately not my first language and this is probably full of mistakes, you have been warned.

Grace looks beautiful in her wedding-dress. She stands infrot of the mirror and smiles, shows her teeth, and tries to feel as good as she looks. It's not working. There is a nearly empty glass of champagne standing on the dresser next to her, she takes it, swallows the rest down and looks for the bottle one of the maids brought earlier.

Someone knocks at the door and she winces slightly. “Can I come in?”

“Yeah, sure.” She hides the glass behind her on the dresser.

Alex looks stunning in his tailored suit. He takes her in, for a few seconds his expression is indifferent, then he grins. “You look even more perfect then I thought you would.”

She laughs quietly. “You too, handsome.”

When he stands directly in front of her he takes her face in his hands. “Last chance to run.”

Huffing, she tries to look as happy as before, “Your last chance, too.”

“Won't need it. But I'm serious, Grace. If you don't want to get married, it'd be totally fine for me. We could just sneak out of the backdoor and go where ever you want to. I won't be mad.”

A strange feeling spreads in her stomach. “Sounds like _you_ have second thoughts.”

“I really don't”, he seems to look for the right words, then he just shakes his head, “I just want you to be sure you want to be part of this. My family is really... special.”

“They seemed to be nice enough.” Alex gives her a small peck on the lips and she's grateful he isn't starring so intensely into her eyes any more.

“My brother and his wife just arrived, I'll introduce you.”

-

She is drunk. Well, at least she doesn't feel sober, cause everything her friends are saying is _funny._ Oh, she missed this. Someone gets another round of shots and screams the stupid slogan they had while they were in college. They start to share some stories and they are all downright embarrassing, but Grace doesn't really mind when everyone laughs about the one in which she puked from a balcony, because she confused water with vodka. Shrugging she says, “Happens to the best of us.”

They are a group of six people and three of them are already married, Grace is the next in line, everyone has a steady nine-to-five job, and they spend that part of their weekend that is not reserved for grocery shopping and doing the laundry with Netflix and sleeping. It feels pathetic.

When it's her turn Grace staggers more than walks to the bar, she sits down on a barstool and eats some of the peanuts standing in front of her.

“Can I get you something?” the guy next to her asks. Grace examines him a few seconds, he's attractive and nicely dressed, before she answers, “Well, I actually wanted to get a new round for me and my friends over there.”

He smilies slightly and goes back to drinking from a glass with brown liquid. Somehow she doesn't want this to end, so she asks him, “You're here all by yourself?”

“Yeah,” he takes another sip then, “Well, I was at another party, it was lame, so I left.”

“Want to join us? We're not that lame, I guess.”

“Thank you, but I think I'll stay here.”

“Ahh who's lame, now,” she bumps her fist against his arm playfully and he starts to laugh, “So this is a yes? This is a yes! I'll get seven beers!” she shouts and at the bartender, who happened to walk past her.

A few minutes later she returns to her friends, dragging the new guy along, “I met him at the bar, he's lonely, 'cause his friends are lame,” she announces. Everyone smiles and kind of waves at him and when they sit down he says, “I'm Daniel, by the way.”

-

“This is my brother Daniel and his wife Charity,” Alex says after he led Grace to the entering hall where the guests are slowly gathering.

She forces a smile on her lips and tires to look only at Charity, “Nice to meet you.”

Daniel's wife is rather pretty and rather terrifying, and with a raised eyebrow she take Grace's dress in. “Revealing the dress before the ceremony starts, interesting.”

Alex coughs and hugs his brother, while quietly, but loud enough for the women to hear, whispering, “Charming as ever.”

Daniel laughs weakly and Charity looks even more terrifying, “Nice to meet you, Grace.”

Finally their eyes meet and Grace remembers Alex offer to just run away.

-

“So, you're all living here?” Daniel asks.

“Nah, we went to college here, so just some of us are. I am, hard to leave when you found an affordable apartment. And you're from here, too?”

“Just visiting.”

“Don't you say you came for the party!” Grace laughs.

“Guilty.”

“Oh my god, what did happened, that you left a party to drink alone a bar when you came to town for said party?”

“It's,” he shakes his head and takes another sip of his beer, “it's complicated. This guy is doing some things I'm not agreeing with and we had a fight. It got messy.”

“You had a fist-fight?” she tries not to laugh and fails, he smiles weakly.

“Just some pushing.”

“Sounds kinda pathetic.”

“Yeah, it was,” he starts to laugh now as well, and takes a sip from his beer.

"Well, in the end you got lucky, because now you found us, and we know how to party.”

“We _knew_ how to party when we weren't old and boring,” someone corrects her.

“Whatever,” she says, after she emptied her beer, “I think this will be a great night.”

For the first time Daniel's smile seems to reach his eyes.

-

Grace storms down the corridors, desperately looking for a room she can be alone in. This can't be true. This _cannot_ be true. She opens some doors just to find a maid or a butler behind every single one of them. Who needs that much stuff for a wedding? Fuck, a _wedding_.

Finally she finds an empty bathroom, but before she can close the door, someone else is pushing in.

“Grace, we need to talk,” Daniel says and has the audacity to lock the door.

“We certainly don't,” she grits her teeth and looks for a way out. Maybe she'll fit through the window, jumping out of the second floor's bathroom can't hurt too bad.

“Please, you got to listen-”

“I don't have to do a thing, _Daniel._ Fuck you! Did you know? You saw my ring! This _party_ you talked about was Alex' _bachelor party_! God, that is-”

“You _really_ have to listen now. Please, just calm down-”

“Calm down? Do you even know-”

“Fuck, just shut up for one second!” he shouts and she flinches. She is angry, oh so angry, and expects to see some of the same anger in his eyes, but he just looks _scared_ , “I know, this sounds crazy, but you _must not_ marry Alex. Please, believe me. This is the _worst_ thing you could do.”

“You don't want me to marry him?” of all the things she thought he would say, this was the last one, “Why? Because of what happened? You want to tell him? Is this why you followed me into a bathroom like a creep?”

“Grace, I'm serious. This got nothing to do with what happened _._ I just want to protect you-”

“Protect me? From what? You want to protect yourself, so I won't tell anyone-”

“This is really not-”

“I won't tell your wife, don't worry-”

“This is not, what this is about!”

“It's my wedding day, you can't take this from me!”

She feels dangerously close to tears. She shakes her head and takes a few deep breaths, she _won't_ cry now. He uses these few seconds to seemingly calm down himself, because he continues quieter than before, “It's hard to explain and it got nothing to do with us meeting before. It's about my family, they are... _not normal._ Believe me, you don't want to be part of it,” he takes a few steps towards her and stops when she flinches away, “I don't want you to leave Alex, you just can't marry him. I know it sounds crazy and you've got no reason to trust me, but we don't have much time. Take your car and drive away as far and fast as you can.”

“You know what? You really sound crazy!” And before he can say anything else, she slipped past him and out of the door.

-

They are doing shots again and everything starts to get slightly blurry. She laughs about every stupid joke, and realizes it's time to get some water when she knocks her beer over instead of picking it up. “Helping me with getting another round?” she asks Daniel.

“Sure.”

She staggers even worse than before, and he takes hold of her arm when she nearly trips. “Thank you,” she laughs and he smilies right back. She wants to look at his face for the rest of the night.

They sit down at the bar and she orders a few beers and a few cokes, because she is probably not the only one who should fight the hangover in advance.

“Glad you came over or would you rather leave?”

“Definitely glad, but I would leave if you wanted to go somewhere more private,” he says grinning and it sounds jokingly enough that she doesn't roll her eyes.

“You!” she says laughing and shakes her head.

“Well, you can't blame me for trying,” he says and is grinning even more.

“Can't I?”

“What am I supposed to say, I'm sitting next to a beautiful and clever woman, who wouldn't?” She is surprised how something so stupid can sound so charming

“Who wouldn't, huh?”

“Yep, besides I'm drunk.”

“Not really an excuse,” she says, still smiling.

“Who says it was an excuse?” and winks. He _winks._

She starts to laugh. “Oh my god, don't you tell me, this _ever_ worked.”

“Maybe once or twice,” he laughs as well.

"This is really unbelievable! And I have to disappoint you, it's not working on me.”

“Oh don't worry, I totally accept when someone doesn't want to sleep with me, won't try anything else.” He smiles and she has to admit she starts to like him.

“That is good to hear.”

“Doesn't mean I understand it,” he mumbles mockingly and grins even more then before.

“Wow, and I just started to like you,” she shakes her head exaggerated, but can't stop smiling herself.

“Well, may I still pay for the drinks?” he says, when the bartender comes over with their order.

“You may,” she tries to let it sound generous, but starts to laugh again.

-

For the rest of the day she avoids Daniel successfully. The ceremony and the following party are great and everyone seems to have fun. Besides herself, of course. She didn't picture her wedding day to be perfect, but she'd never dreamed of feeling like shit the whole time. Daniel's words echo inside her head and she tries to forget them, just like she tries to forget Alex telling her she could still run. She _wants_ this, she _loves_ Alex, she is just nervous. And she fucked up big time, but this is definitely neither the right place nor the right time to talk with Alex about this.

So she spends the day fake smiling, and fake laughing, and desperately trying to be happy, and when this doesn't work she drinks instead. She wishes she could drink herself to sleep, but thinks better of it, she is still the bride, even though a miserable one, and puking into one of the insanely expansive vases would only make matters worse. At least her friends she spend _that_ evening with aren't here.

A few times she gets a glimpse at Daniel and he seems to feel just as bad. She doesn't know whether she's happy about it or not.

After an endlessly long dinner and some half-heartedly dancing the quests start to leave and she is finally, _finally_ back inside her room. When Alex says they have to go back down for some kind of family tradition she tries everything to persuade him to just go to sleep, but he's insists on it, so she finds herself with her in-laws at a round table close to midnight.

She nearly misses Alex' sisters plus husband deciding to show up just now, and his dad telling some stupid story, because she is so occupied with starring at Daniel's face. God, he _is_ handsome, that fucker. She wishes she'd never met him. Unbelievably he looks even more miserable than this afternoon, and when she draws a card with _Hide and Seek_ on in he nearly lets his glass fall down.

“What? We really gonna play this, now?” she asks confused.

“Yes, my dear,” Tony answers stony-faced.

“Okay,” she mumbles and goes back up the stairs, while some creepy song is playing. Could this evening get any worth?

She finds a small closet right next to her bedroom, sits down in it and waits for someone to find her, so she can go to sleep and leave this nightmare as soon as the sun rises.

-

After drinking energy-drinks and some water, well, they are responsible adults now, aren't they, they leave the bar to go to some new club that is just a few blocks away. She doesn't even remember the last time she was in a club, let alone the last time she was up all night.

“Oh come on, you're not _that_ old,” Daniel says when she tells him.

“No, but I'm _that_ boring. It's an achievement when I stay up past nine on a Friday evening, and I'm _definitely_ not wasting a Sunday with sleeping all day, because I drunk my way through the night.”

He laughs and she follows suit after shaking her head. “So what changed? Why are you out tonight? I mean it's already past midnight.”

“Well, these bunch of crazy people came to town,” one of them turns around and shows her the finger, “and... my boyfriend is out, too, so staying at home wasn't really an option.” She doesn't know why she hesitated to tell him she has a boyfriend. A fiancée, she reminds herself, who is currently at his bachelor-party, while she isn't doing a bachelorette party per se, but this is definitely coming close to it. And she saw the ring on his finger.

“Sounds fair,” he says still smiling.

“So, what about you? Are you a 'party animal'?”

“Not as bad as I has been.”

“Ha, grew old yourself didn't you,” she jokes, but he looks rather serious.

“Something like that. The people I'm spending time usually have enough drinks and drugs available, but it's more of a 'I drink so I don't kill myself at this fucking boring event'-thing, so I guess you can't really call it _partying._ ”

“My dear Daniel,” she halts and pokes her finger lightly into his chest, “this sounds at least ten times worse than my weekends.”

He cracks a smile, “My dear Grace, you might be right.”

“You know what, we'll make a deal! We go out at least _once_ a month to have fun! No staying in to sleep, no excuses!”

“Sounds like a nice, but unrealistic idea.”

“So that's a deal,” she says grinning and holds out her hand.

“Deal,” he says and takes her hand and when he doesn't let go of it until they reached the club, well, she doesn't mind.

-

It's no ten minutes later, when someone opens the doors to her hiding place.

“Thank god, I found you!”

“Yeah, congrats, your the winner,” she says annoyed and crawls out.

Daniel suddenly grips her arm and pulls her inside her bedroom. “What-” she tries to say confused, but he shushes her. When the door is closed behind them she shakes his arm of, “What the-”

“I'm sorry, but we don't have time for this. We have to get you out of the house, right now.” He runs to the window and tries to open it. It's locked. “Shit. But it doesn't matter, I already thought so, I know another way-”

“Is this your 'you can't marry my brother'-shit again? Because it's to late and I'm really not in the mood for-”

“Don't you get it? This is what I tried to protect you from!”

“Playing hide and seek? Why-”

“It's not a game! They'll... fuck, they'll kill you, Grace! When they'll find you, they will kill you!”

For a few seconds she is too shocked to do anything, then she starts to laugh, “You really are crazy. What is your plan here? We just met once and now-”

“Psst,” he interrupts her, “I'm hearing footsteps. Hide behind the bed!”

When she just looks at him, confused, and doesn't move an inch he repeats insistently, “Please, Grace, hide behind the bed!” And she does. She feels stupid, but something in Daniel's eyes scares her. He warned her before, _Alex_ warned her.

Suddenly the doors opens and someone enters. “What are you doing in here?” The voice sounds young, it's probably the strange sister. Emilie.

“Looked for her. Isn't here,” Daniel answers.

“So why did you close the door?” Emilie asks suspiciously.

“You got me! Wanted to drink something in peace. Want some?”

“Nah, thanks, just had some. Want to stay clear, you know.”

“Sure.”

Then footsteps are coming closer. “What are you doing?” Daniel asks.

“Just checking if you missed anything.”

Grace stops breathing.

Someone else seems to enter the room, because another voice says “I-” then _bang_ and a loud _thud._

“What did you do?” Daniel shouts.

“I'm sorry, I thought it was her!” Emilie whines.

Still not wanting to believe that this is really happening Grace looks carefully over the bed and sees Emilie and Daniel cowering next to one of the maids. She lies in a pool of her own blood, having a big, red hole in the middle of her forehead. Grace has to bite down into her fist to muffle her scream and ducks back behind the bed.

“I'll get dad,” Emilie sniffs and a few seconds later Daniel sits next to Grace. She nearly falls over. “I'm so sorry and I wish I could explain everything to you, but we don't have that much time. You have to follow me.”

She doesn't even hesitate. “Don't look,” he whispers. She does look. It's even worse from above and more surreal all the same.

She is probably in shook, because they are suddenly in a windowless, empty corridor and she doesn't remember how she got there.

“You have to listen now,” he says and takes her face between his hands, “They won't look for you in here for now. I have to go back and talk to them, but I will be back as soon as I can.”

“What? No! You can't go! Your sister-”

“I know! Fuck! I know! But I'll be right back, I promise.”

“Okay,” she says weakly.

“Okay? Okay. You stay right here and be quiet. I'll be right back.”

And then she's alone.

-

They are again sitting at a table, just that this time the music is so loud they have to shout in order to understand each other. Her friends already went to the dance floor, but she and Daniel stayed behind. Talking to him feels nice and she blames the alcohol for that she can't stop starring at his _handsome_ face.

His knee bumps hers now and then, because they are sitting just inches apart so they don't have to shout _that_ loud. And she can't deny she's liking the feeling of having a nearly stranger sitting in front of her, who's piercing glance seems to say 'I want to take your clothes of'.

“We should have stayed at the bar,” she says at some point.

“What?”

“The bar. We should have stayed their,” louder this time.

“Thought you wanted to dance,” he answers.

“Well,” she says and takes another sip of her cocktail, “Was easier to talk there.”

“Don't worry, I would have only told you about my childhood at some point.”

“Uh, I'd like that.”

“Nah, believe me, you wouldn't.”

“Shitty childhood?” he just nods, “Oh, I beat you on that. Was send from foster family to foster family ever since I was four.”

“I _wish_ my parents were dead,” he returns and immediately shakes his head, “Sorry, shouldn't have said that.”

“It's alright, and they aren't actually dead, at least they weren't when they took me. Drug addiction, burglary, you know the drill.”

Carefully he puts his hand on her arm and when she smiles he strokes the naked skin there with his thumb. It feels good. “Sorry, I brought this up, childhood is never a good topic with _anyone._ ”

“Normally I'm the one to bring up a shitty topic, so don't worry.”

“So, emotional-drunk aren't you?” he says mockingly and looks less tensed.

“Totally, don't show me a cute animal video, I'll start to cry right here, right now.”

Grinning he takes his hand away from her arm. She wants him to put it back. “That'd be probably rather adorable, but I'll save that for another day.”

“Yes please, because I wanted to have fun tonight, and not spend hours with fixing my ruined make-up.”

“Fun I can do,” he says and it sounds so stupidly cliché she starts to laugh. He laughs as well. 

“I thought you were only ever drinking yourself into coma on boring social events.”

“What?”

She leans in a little bit closer, so that her lips are nearly grazing his ear, “I said, I thought you only drink on boring events, and that doesn't sound like fun at all.”

He grins and speaks directly into her ear as well, “Doesn't mean I forgot how to have fun.”

His lips hover over her skin for a moment too long and she already thinks he's about to kiss her neck, when he leans back after all. She hates to admit that she's disappointed.

“So, what about we get some more drinks and you show me how to have fun.”

He smirks.

-

She tries to get her breathing under control. _In and out. In and out._ Since when is breathing that hard? Her in-law are trying to kill her. Daniel tried to warn her. Alex tried to warn her, sort of. Alex. Where is he? Why did he bring her to this house if he knew what was about to happen? _In and out._

Her dress feels suddenly to tight and heavy. She starts to rip at the seam until the fabric is barely reaching her ankles. _In and out._ She will probably have to run, her in-law want to kill her. A quiet, small laugh slips out of her mouth. She kicks her high heels off.

The door opens and she nearly screams. “It's me!” Daniel says hastily.

_In and out._

“What the fuck, Daniel,” she gets out between gritted teeth.

“I'm so sorry. I wish, this wouldn't happen to you.”

“Why do they want to kill me?”

“My father told you the story: Mr. Le Bail wants a sacrifice. At least this is what they're believing in.”

“This is crazy.”

“I know.”

“Where is Alex?”

“They locked him into the family room. They thought he would try to help you escape.”

“Would he?”

“Of course,” it doesn't sound sincere.

“Why did he bring me here if he knew this would happen?” her voice sounds close to tears now. _In and out._

“He didn't know this would happen. Charity drew chess.”

“He knew this _could_ happen.”

“Yes.”  
“Fuck.”

“Grace, we really have to go now. They locked the house down, but I know where the control-room is. We'll open the doors and you'll get a car and drive as fast and far as you can.”

“Sounds good,” she says.

They are running through narrow corridors, stopping at every corner to look what is waiting for them behind it. Thank god, they don't run in anybody else. _In and out._ They reach a door and Daniel carefully pokes his head in. “It's save.” he whispers, and they enter a small room.

Countless screens are hanging on one wall, but they are all black. “Dad wanted to do it the old way,” Daniel explains and she feels sick. _In and out._

He starts to smash down on the keys, but nothing happens. “Fuck,” he mumbles. Then the screens come back to live. She studies them, while he still tries to open the doors.

At first she looks for the room she drew the stupid card in, but when she finds it Alex is nowhere to be seen. Emilie and her husband are talking to each other in the dining room, Aunt Helen walks down one of the staircases, axe in her hands, Tony and Becky are lurking through the corridors, and then she finds Alex. He stands in their bedroom, right where she hid no fifteen minutes ago, shotgun in his hand. That motherfucker.

“Motherfucker,” she says.

“Huh?” Daniel asks and follows her gaze until he sees Alex as well. He goes back to the keys, wide eye, and suddenly something _klicks_. “Lets get out of here,” he says and with one last look on the screens they start to run.

-

They end up on the dance floor. She is drunk enough to not think about how ridiculous she looks, while he spins her around. He said he couldn't dance and he was definitely right, but he has so much fun while swaying his hips totally off the beat, he still looks _good._ Well, it's probably because he's so attractive, that he always looks good, no matter what.

She doesn't know whether he pulled her closer or if it was the other way around, but after a few minutes she has her arms looped around his neck and he holds her hips while they sway together, laughing. His hands aren't really touching her ass, but it doesn't feel innocent either. She gets closer, so their faces are only inches apart. His lips are directly in front of her. They are as pretty as the rest of him.

She looks up into his eyes and he stares directly back. She feels a shiver go down her spine and her stomach going all warm. They are too close and not close enough all at once. She puts her hands onto the back of his head, looks back down at his lips and up into his eyes again. He seems to think the exact same thing as she does, but neither wants to be the first one to start or end this. Biting down on her lip she leans further in, feeling the heat in her stomach starting to spread through her body.

He leans in as well, their lips finally touching, just for moment. They separate again, he smilies and she laughs. “Okay?” he asks.

“Yes,” she says, wants to scream it. Then his lips are back on hers, kissing her more forcefully this time. She opens her mouth, licks over his bottom lip. The kiss is messy, both too drunk for it to be anything else, but it's still good, so god-damn got, she feels like her whole body is on fire.

She missed that, the excitement of kissing someone you never kissed before. Not knowing what is about to happen, because you never done it together. She never really slept around, but _kissed_ around. She just loves kissing and only now she realizes how much she loves kissing new people.

His hands land on her ass and he pulls her closer until they are pressed against each other. She wishes she wouldn't moan against his lips immediately, it makes her feel desperate, but she probably is.

“Maybe we should get out of here,” he says between kisses. She feels something hard pressing against her stomach.

Ignoring the voice inside her head, saying she already fucked up enough, she nods.

-

They get out of the house, again without meeting anyone, and she starts to hope that this nightmare will end after all. They run through the gardens where she married Alex just a few hours ago. Fuck, Alex.

On half the way to the garage they suddenly run into a young boy, not older then twelve. He jumps out of one of the bushes, still wearing his pyjamas. Grace nearly screams.

“Fuck, Georgie, what are you doing here?” Daniel says and for the first time he sounds nervous.

“You found her,” the boy says, eyes gleaming.

“Yes,” Daniel says and Grace wants nothing more than to run, “You have to go to bed now, Georgie, it could get really dangerous out here.”

“Why are you running away from the house? We need her inside,” the boy says. It feels like a really cheap horror film and Grace would laugh if she wasn't so scared.

“Georgie, you have to go to bed now,” Daniel says through gritted teeth.

“You want to help her run away.” The boy slowly says. Every second now he will start to scream for the family and she will be shot like the maid. Daniel makes a hissing noise beside her, she tries to grab the boy to keep him still, but Georgie raises his arm, before she can reach him. For a moment she thinks he wants to slap her hands away, then _bang._ At first she doesn't realize what has happened, but then she sees the hole in her left hand.

“Fuck,” she whisper and without thinking about it she hits Georgie. The boy falls down unconscious.

“Okay, Grace look at me,” Daniel's voice says from somewhere, “Look at me!” She does. “Everything is going to be fine, you hear me.”

She nods, but it doesn't feel like it. She has a hole inside her hand. It doesn't even hurt. Why doesn't it hurt? Suddenly she hears something tearing apart, she flinches. Daniel ripped a few shreds from her dress and wraps them around her injured hand.

“Someone probably heard the gun, so they will be here any minute,” he speaks fast and she can hardly concentrate enough to understand him, “They would see or hear you drive away and they'd follow, we can't let that happen. So, you will run this way through the forest, until you reach the gate, it's open. You go left, run down the street, but stay hidden behind the trees. It's just one mile to the next gas station.”

She nods.

“I'll go back inside, and try to convince them, you're still in the house.”

“What? No! You can't leave me!”

“They can't find Georgie here, they'll know where your heading. Our best chance is to make them believe your still in the house.”

“I can't do this alone,” her voice is trembling.

“Yes, you can and you will.” He looks like he wants to say something else, he just shakes his head, though. When she tries to protest, he already picked Georgie up and started to run back to the house.

-

She goes to bathroom, before they leave the club. After using the toilet she looks into the mirror: what was left of her lipstick is smeared and some of her mascara is in places it shouldn't be either. When she starts to wipe it away one of her friends suddenly stands beside her. “Hey,” she says.

“Oh, hey,” Grace says, sounding guilty, “Just wanted to text you, I'm about to leave.”

“With this Daniel guy?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Don't get me wrong, I don't want to tell you what to do, but are you sure, it's such a good idea? I mean you told me you were about to get married.”

Grace bites down onto her tongue. Of course she doesn't know whether this a good idea, but she tried to not think about it until now. She will feel bad tomorrow no matter what, but she doesn't want the night to end, she doesn't remember when she felt that good for the last time. And it's not just about the excitement of it all, she didn't feel truly happy or carefree for month, she _deserves_ some fun. But she doesn't know how to express that, so she just says, “We are just talking.”

“I saw you kissing on the dance floor.”

Well, it could have worked. “Look, I really appreciate you worrying about me, but I know what I'm doing, everything is fine.”

Clearly it isn't and her friend knows it, but she nods at last, “Just stay save, text me when you get home. And the address if you go somewhere private with him. You don't know him.”

“Will do,” Grace says and kisses her friend on the cheek.

When she leaves the bathroom Daniel is already waiting for her. “Where do you want to go?” he asks.

“I know a place.”

-

She follows his directions and runs through the trees. It feels like an eternity, her lungs are burning and her hand starts to throb. Maybe ten minutes later she find the fence, but no gate in sight. For a moment she considers climbing it, but it's too high, so she tries to get through. Her head fits without any difficulty, but then she's stuck. She takes a few deep breaths and starts to push, her back stings and she tries to ignore it. The pain gets worse, even worse than the one in her hand, but she remembers the dead maid and Georgie shooting her and pushes some more. An inaudible scream escapes, then she's on the other side. Warm blood trickles down her back, she decides to ignore it, however, crosses the street and starts to run again, hidden behind the trees.

After a few minutes she gets slower and slower, her whole body aches, her hand and back are on fire and she has to concentrate to fight back the tears.

Alex knew, that this could happen. He didn't warn her, not even when she drew that card. And then she saw him with that gun in their bedroom. Was he there to warn her like Daniel did? Was he there to kill her like Emilie tried?

She remembers the night she met Daniel for the first time. Would he have helped her if they didn't meet before? Does is matter?

When she hears a car coming closer she stops and considers coming out of her hiding place, hoping the driver would halt and help her. Too late she realizes the car is clearly driving too slow to be just someone passing, because before she can crouch down the car stops and the door opens.

“Grace!” someone shouts and she starts to run.

Her white dress was probably easily seen in the middle of the night. Stupid, _stupid._ She tries to run as fast as she can, but the footsteps come closer and closer. Then something hits the back of her head and everything goes black.

She wakes up to people talking. Everything hurts, she is tired and confused, then she remembers what happened. She nearly screams, but pulls herself together in time. It's probably better if her kidnapper doesn't know she's awake.

Carefully she raises her head, just now she realizes her hands are tide behind her back. The butler is driving the car, smiling while he video-chats with the Le Domases, only Daniel and Alex are nowhere to be seen.

“I should be there any minute now,” the butler says and Grace starts to panic. She _cannot_ got back to this house. She considers her options, but there aren't many, so she does the only thing she can think of that doesn't seem to be completely impossible. She rolls onto her back, draws her knees to her chest and kicks the butler's head as hard as she can.

“Stephens!” someone screams.

The butler sways and tries to turn around, but she kicks him again against the head and he slumps down unconsciously. Then the car hits something and everything turns to black again.

Someone grips her by the shoulders, with every bit of strength she has left she opens one eye. Tony looks down at her.

-

They buy a few beers from a small kiosk and walk down the streets. It's still warm and they pass other small, happy looking groups of people now and then. It reminds her of a vacation she spend in Spain, only that it was even hotter and she was with a good friend and not a stranger she just kissed.

Not really talking, but touching now and then, they walk until they reach the place she had in mind. It's a small, but nice canal, and they climb over a small fence to sit down on some stairs, that lead into the water. From there you have a good view down the canal, which has trees on both sides, so no one can exactly see you. “It's nice,” he says and she doesn't know whether he's disappointed she didn't bring him somewhere more private or not.

“First summer I was at college I spend nearly every evening here. We brought beer and cheap wine and got drunk,” she smiles at the memory and asks herself why she is telling him that.

“To good memories,” he says and opens two of the bottles.

“Yeah, to good memories.”

They drink and then stay quiet for a few minutes and just look down the canal. It would feel awkward if she wasn't so unreasonable comfortable around him.

"I probably shouldn't have kissed you, should I,” he says and when she turns her head to look at him he won't meet her eyes.

“What? No, and I kissed you too, if you forgot about it.”

“Just feels like you regret it. Not an accusation! You have every right to not wanting this any more.”

“I do want it, god, you don't know how much I want to kiss your stupidly handsome face,” he laughs quietly and finally meets her eyes, “But... I had to much time to think, I guess.”

“About your boyfriend?” he asks and smiles sympathetically.

“Yeah. I'm not a cheater, you know. At least I thought I wasn't. And I want to kiss you again, and go to some hotel, and then get naked with you, but I'm scarred I hate myself for it at some point.”

He gulps down his beer and says, after staying silent for a few moments, “I don't really know what to tell you. I really li-... I don't really know you, I don't know your relationship...” He shrugs and doesn't say anything else.

“I'm sorry for killing the mood,” she whispers and she really is. It was a great evening until now, so why did she have to run into her friend, who made her question her plan to fuck him?

“No, don't be, still the best evening in years.”

“Yeah, mine too, I think... God, we are pathetic.”

He huffs, “Probably true.”

She sighs and rests her head against his shoulder. “Okay?” she asks.

“Yes,” he says and plants a kiss onto her forehead, it feel innocently enough.

“What about your wife?” she asks at some point.

“What about her?”

“Did you thought about her, I mean at all tonight? Do you feel guilty you kissed me?”

“I was glad I didn't have to think about her for once, so no, I don't feel guilty, at least not because of her.”

She nods but is not really understanding what he is saying. Will marriage be like this: being glad you forget about your spouse for an evening? Well, she tried to forget about Alex the whole night as well, didn't she? “Do you love her?” she asks.

“I really don't know, any more. And what about you? Do you love him?”

She doesn't want to answer it, but she was the one who started with the too personal question. “Yes, I love him.” _But probably not as much as I once did._

-

She is strapped down. Her hands are tide above her head, she can't move her legs, everything is cold. “We have to start.”

“What about Alex?”

“He doesn't want to see this.”

“He has to participate!”

She groans and opens her eyes. The Le Domases are gathered around her, all wearing a black hood. Tony stands directly over her head, dagger in his hand. “Please,” she mumbles and searches for Daniel's face. He refuses to look her in the eyes.

Tony starts to talk, but she doesn't understand a word he's saying. She doesn't want to give them the satisfaction to see her cry, but after the first tear escaped she can't stop them. Tony drinks from a goblet, gives it to his wife, and Grace tries to tell herself that dying at least won't hurt and the pain will finally _stop_ , but it doesn't help. She's not ready to die, not now, not like this, betrayed and beaten down. She doesn't _deserves_ this.

Tony raises the dagger and she wants to scream, wants to plead for her life, but she isn't able to make any sound. Then the dagger falls down besides her head and everyone starts to scream.

Confused, Grace tries to get her breathing under control and to understand _what the fuck_ is happening, then someone cuts open the bonds around her hand and feet. Slowly she sits up and sees the Le Domases lying on the floor, moaning and clutching their stomachs and throats.

“We have to go,” Daniel says and helps her of the table.

“What... what happened?”

“I put poison into the goblet,” he says, takes her good hand in his and pulls her out of the room.

“Poison?” Her legs are shaking and she has to try her best to not just fall down right there.

“Yeah, won't kill them, but will give us enough time to get out of here.”

They only get a few meters down the next corridor, when loud footsteps start to follow them. “What the fuck did you do?” Emilie shrikes loudly. She looks like hell, but holds a gun in her hand and points it at Daniel and Grace.

“Emilie,” Daniel says slowly, “just let us go.”

“How can you put her over us?” she seems close to tears, but is then hit by a coughing fit. Daniel takes a step forward, but before he can reach her, she gets her act together and fires. He takes a step back, then falls down right on his back, blood already starting to pool out of his wounded shoulder. Grace wants to scream and hit Emilie, but remembers the gun, bits down onto her tongue and tries to look for something she could use as a weapon.

“Not again. Why does this always happen to me?” Emilie whimpers and before she can fire the gun a second time Grace gets a small but heavy looking figurine out of the shelf beside her and throws it against Emilie's head.

“Nice shot,” Daniel mumbles, who is already trying to get back on his feet.

“Are you alright?” Grace asks and lets go of a breath she didn't know she was holding. She tries to grip his arm to help him stay upright, “Let me look at your shoulder.”

"No, it's not that bad.” He shakes her off and walks over to his unconscious sister, picks up the gun and pulls a key out of his trousers. “Get the car,” he says and gives her both items.

“You are coming with me.”

“She didn't drink enough from the goblet, so someone else probably didn't do it either. I'll go lock them in.” He grips one of Emilie's arm and starts to pull back to the room they just came from.

“Not leaving without you,” Grace mumbles helplessly.

“Yes you will, they won't do anything to me. Go, get the card and drive. I'll stop them from following you.”

A part of her wants to refuse, he saved her, she owes him the same, but he's right, his family will kill her if she stays any longer,but they are not so psychotic they would kill Daniel. Are they?. “Wait outside, I'll get you,” she says and starts to run.

“You're leaving if I'm not there,” Daniel shouts.

She will come and get him. She _will._ She feels like a coward, but is too scared to be strapped down on that table again to not run away. She will get help. Everything is going to be fine. The wound wasn't that bad, Daniel is going to be fine.

She enters a room she knows has a door leading to the garden and nearly reaches it when something grazes her head and knocks into the wall beside her. Gasping she turns around and sees Becky with a crossbow standing there.

“What did you do to my son,” she says furious.

Too shocked to say anything Grace just stares at her mother-in-law, a woman who welcomed her to the family only a few other ago.

“You little bitch.”

Everything seems to slow down, her heart suddenly beats quietly and steadily inside her chest and she nearly feels like floating. She raises her arm, a moment before she realize Becky tries to set the crossbow off again, and shoots. Becky looks confused, when she falls down, ugly red hole in the middle of her chest, and her eyes close after she hit the floor.

Grace thinks she should probably feel shocked about what she just did or at least confused, but nothing, just tiredness and pain. For a few seconds she stands there, than she remembers that other family members who want to kill her are left, and is about to leave when Alex enters the room.

“Grace, baby,” he says and look at his dead mother lying to his feet, “What happened?”

She wants to scream, hit him, shoot him like she shot his stupid mother. She laughs instead. “What happened? You wanted to kill me, asshole!”

“No, Grace,” he pleads, “I didn't! I didn't know this would happen! I tried to help you.”

“Oh fuck you, you knew exactly, that this would happen. Why didn't you care? Were you too much of a coward to just move out? Wanted mummy and daddy to kill me instead?”

“I understand that you're angry, babe, I really do. But you _have_ to believe me, I didn't know that you'd draw this card. I was sure we'd just play a boring game. And then you drew the godforsaken card and I tried to warn you, but they locked me in.”

She shakes her head, “I saw you in our bedroom, gun in your hand.” He takes a few careful steps into her direction, “Don't you dare,” she says through gritted teeth and he stops.

“I tried to find you. But you were already gone. I was so scared, so scared that I lost you. I can't live without you, Grace. They locked me in again, I could free myself just a few minutes ago. Then I heard two shots, I was so scared, something happened to you, that I'd lost you. I'm so glad you're alright.”

“Then why didn't you tell me about this?” She wipes the new tears angrily away.

“You would have left me if I told you, babe, I know you would have. I couldn't lose you, I couldn't risk this. You mean too much to me. I-”

She huffs and shakes her head. “This is even worse than I thought it would be. You and your family are fucking psychopaths. Fuck, you hunted me the whole night to kill me!”

“Babe-”

“Just leave me alone, you fucker.”

He looks disappointed. “I wanted you to be part of this family, Grace. I really-” she sees how he puts one hand behind himself, but before she can even move a finger, Daniel comes into the room and hits Alex' head with a big box. He falls down, right beside his mother.

“Let's get the fuck out of here.”

-

The sun starts to rise and she is still sitting with her head on his shoulder. At some point he started to stroke her back, the beers are all empty.

“I have to go soon,” she says.

“Yes,” he sighs.

“I'm really glad I met you.”

“Yes, I'm glad too, you turned a shitty evening into a great one, so thank you.”

“It was pleasure,” she mumbles and then, because she wanted to do it ever since they left the dance floor, she leans in and kisses him, just a small peck on the lips.

He smiles and when she doesn't move away he kisses her again, longer this time. The heat comes instantly back and takes hold of her whole body. She'd love to say 'screw it' and forget about any doubt, but even though she drank some more beer, the fog inside her brain lifted and she knows it's too late now to take this any further.

“I wish I met you earlier. Or later,” she says against his lips.

“Would probably not have worked out,” he says and kisses her one more time before he leans back a few inches.

She takes it as a sign and gathers her stuff. When she raises he does too, and after a few moments of hesitating they hug each other awkwardly. “So, goodnight.”

“Sleep tight,” he answers.

She already climbed over the fence when she turns around again. “Would you... do you mind giving me your number?”

“Sure,” he says, smiling, and fetches his phone out of his pocket. After she saved the number she looks at him one last time. She doesn't want to go, she really doesn't, but she heads home anyway.

-

They get a car, drive directly to the next police station and no one tries to stop them. The young police officer looks scared when they enter the station, bloody and talking about a family that tried to kill her. He obviously doesn't believe a word, but still sends a car to the house and calls an ambulance.

She still shakes and lets Daniel talk, and when they sit down she grips his hand and holds it so hard that she might crush it. He doesn't complain. The officer leaves to get some water and she starts to cry, loud and ugly. Daniel lays his arm around her shoulder and says “it's over, it's over, you're save,” until the ambulance arrive.

She refuses to let go of his hand at first, but a nice woman talks her calmly into submission. Grace feels nearly save, when the woman smiles at her and pierces a needle with the best drugs ever into her arm.

Her hand is a mess and needs surgery, probably more than one, her back gets ten stitches and she has a concussion. His shoulder will be fine, Daniel says after she wakes up from her surgery, it will only look like shit.

Other police officers come to ask more question, they don't really seem to believe them either, but the evidence matches their story, at least the little they could find. The house burnt down and they where only able to find Stephen's, the maids' and Becky's bodies, the rest of the family has disappeared.

“Of course they would,” Daniel mumbles and Grace starts to shake.

They have to give her something, so she can sleep, because even the police officer in front of her room doesn't make her feel save. When she's released after a week Daniel is already waiting for her.

A taxi takes them to the next airport, she is again holding his hand. “Don't leave me alone,” she says.

“I won't,” he promises.

That has to be enough for now.

**Author's Note:**

> I've never been to the US, so I tried to keep this as vague as I could when I said stuff about the city Grace lives in. I read you're mostly not allowed to drink on the streets, but I guess everyone does? Whatever, it doesn't really matter.  
> 


End file.
